Groundhog Day

On February 2, Punxsutanwney Phil, the most famous groundhog, emerged from his hole and saw his shadow, declaring six more weeks of winter. This U.S. folklore was made into a comedy movie in the early 1990s starring Bill Murray. In the movie, Bill Murray, a television weatherman goes to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on Groundhog Day to report on the famed rodent only to get stuck in a viscous circle of living the day over and over again. So, the term, “Groundhog Day” has a loose reference to déjà vu.

Last Friday on February 10, notebook PC ODMs released their dismal January production numbers, and it felt like Groundhog Day. It was exactly one year ago that the ODMs published similar results, and that was followed up with two subsequent months of record low PC production. So, when this year’s numbers were announced, there was a feeling of déjà vu. Fortunately, the PC market rebounded solidly late last year and managed to soften the extremely weak start. We won’t know exactly how this year will play out for the PC industry, but ODMs are hoping that it follows the movie script, which ends on a happy note. Here’s to Groundhog Day 2017.